Giants Win

Supporting the San Francisco Giants since April 19, 2006

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Giants fans are the greatest

Nothing like being at Mays Field/AT&T Park for big time enjoyment -- and being reminded that the true fans of the Orange and Black never give up hope, even after losing two discouraging games to the annoying Padres.

Much love last night for the triple play and then again today -- the best moment was Aaron Rowand driving in a run with two out in the 9th so that the score went from 5-0 to a not-so-humilating 5-1. That flicker of hope that maybe they'd score 4 more ....

Also a fine moment as fans realized that the Dodgers had gagged again....

Tatis tormenting the Dodgers again

Fernando Tatis joined the Dodgers last year during spring training, then refused to report to the minors after going 3-for-19 during exhbition games. He got his revenge tonight. I'm reposting most of what I posted 18 months ago --

In the past, he was completely non-descript except for 1999 and especially that one day. He managed to hit two grand slams in the 3rd inning of a game at Chavez Latrine, both off Chan Ho Park. It's astounding to think that Davey Johnson decided that Park should be in a position to give up a 2nd slam to the same guy.

How did that taste, Dback fans?

Oh, the humiliation of being swept at home by an inferior team! The Dbacks had everything going their way -- already annointed as winner of the NL West; Zito pitching against the Big Unit; Justin Upton finally out of an 0-for-28 slump (ended against Sanchez last night); the Unit tying Clemens for No. 2 on the all-time strikeout list; and a 3-2 lead in the 8th against one of the worst offenses in MLB.

You know what I, me, the Giants fan don’t care about? How Barry treated you. But my gut tells me that you care about it, and continue to do whatever you can to exact your revenge.Stop. Enough already. Why continue to ignore how much the fans and team miss Barry? You don’t miss him. Fine. But don’t try to tell me that ‘no follower of the Giants’ misses him. We do.

Beach balls and SoCal fans

The following is a guest post from Dan --

Dear Fellow fans:

Every time I go to a ballgame, whether it is at the Latrine or in Anaheim, I am constantly aggravated by a pestilence that afflicts a certain segment of the stands: The urge to bat a beach ball around. Not only is this a most annoying and intrusive habit, it takes away from the game on the field. The implication is that you, the fan who has plunked down your hard-earned dough to attend a ballgame, could not care less about what is happening between the lines. If you want to play footsie with some piece of crap you bought at the 99-cent store, then do it when you're at the beach. Me, I can't stand it when the flow of the game is upset by one of your multi-colored miscreants landing in the field of play.

SoCal fans (especially Dodger fans), you already have the reputation of being the least-knowledgeable in the game. Do yourself a favor and leave the eff-in' beach balls at home. You might actually learn something about the game by actually WATCHING the game.

Rain in Florida?

I guess it's a sign that I'm getting old -- to be obsessed with the weather. Both stories also note that Omar's about to tie Luis Aparicio for games played at shortstop. In 1959, I rooted like mad for the Chisox to beat the Dodgers in the World Series; Luis went 8 for 26 as the Dodgers won the Series 4-2. He was also part of Orioles team in 1966 that buttkicked the Dodgers 4-0 -- one of the most one-sided Series ever. He went 4 for 16, driving in two runs, which equalled the entire run production of the Dodgers. The Os outscored the Dodgers 10-2 in that series.

The return of stupid dingbat Bruce Jenkins

Bruce Jenkins, AKA Brian Sabean's lapdog, is now admitting that the Giants are so bad -- and will be for the foreseeable future -- that Sabean will probably get fired by new managing parnter William Neukom. But, according to this "genius," it's the fault of everyone else including Peter Magowan, Larry Baer and the relentlessly evil Barry Bonds. Aside from mentioning Barry Zito, Bruce decides he doesn't need to name the names in the long string of awful deals -- Durham, Blownitez, Tucker, Hammonds, Ponson, Pierzitsky, Alfonzo, Roberts -- that have defined this franchise for the last five years. Instead, we get this apologist nonsense --

Nobody remembers Sabean's exceptional work as a rising Yankees executive, or that for seven prosperous years, his only false move in San Francisco was an over-commitment to Marvin Benard. Nobody cares about his masterful fine-tuning as Bonds' prime years led to relentless excitement. That's all yesterday. Today, quite frankly, the Giants are an embarrassment. That has to wear on the investors, many of whom aren't quite ready for the flip side of success. Which is why I've finally discovered how I feel about Sabean: I think so highly of him, I hope he is somewhere else next year.The Yankees stuff is like me claiming that I deserve a raise at my current job because I got all A's and B's in the fourth grade. As for the "masterful" fine-tuning of Bonds' prime years, here's what happened -- the team had the best player in baseball for over a decade and went to the World Series once because it insisted on starting guys like Lance Niekro, Russ Davis, Shawon Dunstan and Tsyoshi Shinjo. Here are some responses from Baseball Think Factory posters --

2. GregQ Posted: May 24, 2008 at 10:03 AM (#2793176)You know pro-Sabean Giant Fans? Bruce Jenkins is about the only one I know of, and I think that is in part because once Jenkins forms an opinion he never lets facts get in the way. I always thought that Sabean had two distinct periods with the Giants- he was very good early and very bad later. Jenkins blames everything that was bad during Sabean's tour with the team on the managing partner and then gives Sabean credit for anything that is good that happened. Then again Jenkins is a huge supporter of Sabean's protege-Ned Coletti as well.

3. The Most Interesting Man In The World Posted: May 24, 2008 at 10:26 AM (#2793182)I usually mark the 2000 playoffs as the turning point of Sabean's career. It's true that he had a few more aces up his sleeve (i.e. acquiring Jason Schmidt), but starting with the Bill Mueller for Tim Worrell trade that led to the quandry of having Russ Davis and Armando Rios/Eric Davis as starters for the 2001 team, it's been downhill.

Friday, May 23, 2008

"Our long national nightmare is over"

I took my wife to see "Indiana Jones" around the time the Giants were ahead 7-2 as Zito was being relieved by Keiichi Yabu. Given how badly they played the Astros last week late in games, it would not have been a surprise to come home and see this as a final score -- Marlins 8, Giants 7. And the Marlins has just swept the Dbacks.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

More embarrassment at the Hall of Fame

The Hall of Fame -- which already disgraced itself by agreeing to take Marc Ecko's asterisked ball for HR 756 -- ought to be ashamed of itself. Marvin Miller, turned down twice by the same committee that voted in such questionable choices as Walter O'Malley and Bowie Kuhn, has told the Hall that he'd rather not be considered again. William Rhoden of the New York Times has a pretty good column about it. Here's part of Miller's statement --

“The antiunion bias of the powers who control the hall has consistently prevented recognition of the historic significance of the changes to baseball brought about by collective bargaining. As former executive director (retired since 1983) of the players’ union that negotiated these changes, I find myself unwilling to contemplate one more rigged veterans committee whose members are handpicked to reach a particular outcome while offering the pretense of a democratic vote. It is an insult to baseball fans, historians, sports writers and especially to those baseball players who sacrificed and brought the game into the 21st century. At the age of 91, I can do without farce.”

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Embarrassed to be a Dodger

“I have to say that my time with the Mets wouldn’t have been the same without the greatest fans in the world,” Piazza said in his statement. “One of the hardest moments of my career was walking off the field at Shea Stadium and saying goodbye. My relationship with you made my time in New York the happiest of my career, and for that, I will always be grateful.”

My snarky comment -- Dodger fans got a boatload of payback for their years of arrogance when Fox bought the team from Peter O'Malley and decided to trade Piazza because he wanted more money -- a $100 million deal over six or seven years -- even though he was the most popular Dodger player since Fernando Valenzuela and even though he was probably worth it. So on May 14, 1998: Traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers with Todd Zeile to the Florida Marlins for Manuel Barrios, Bobby Bonilla, Jim Eisenreich, Charles Johnson, and Gary Sheffield. Then the Dodgers took $100 million and signed Kevin Brown during the next off-season. Eat it, Dodger fans. Eat it raw.

Monday, May 19, 2008

The worst team in the majors

Fortunately, that's still the San Diego Padres, who are trailing the Cards 7-2 as I write this and have only won 16 games. But the Giants have now lost six in a row and have been stuck on 17 wins for a week since Matt Cain's remarkable 2-0 beatdown of the Astros. That kind of outing is now looking more and more like an iceberg on the Caribbean, as the Giants projected record is now 62-100.

-- There were two starters (Randy Winn and Fred Lewis) who played great; everyone else more or less stunk offensively.-- The bullpen (Vinnie Chulk) imploded, reminding us all of Sabean's incompetence in trading away Jeremy Accardo-- A former Giant (Yorvit Torrealba) continued to torment the Orange and Black-- An extremely annoying team (the Rox) that has badly underperformed now has a better record than the Giants

I know it’s wishful thinking that Brian Sabean can ever admit that his obsession with veterans in their decline phase and his Schierholtzophobia are not working. Maybe, just maybe, if the Giants DO finish in last and lose 100+ games, SOMEBODY in the organization will realize that Sabean’s a fool. So, with that in mind, I’m doing the only rational thing left: I’m rooting against the Giants..

Look, the truth of the matter is that Giants fans aren't as stupid as Sabean thinks we are. We realize that the GM is going to hype the Giants. We're OK with that. Here's the thing that's painful, though: the original interview was dead-on accurate in terms of portraying how idiotic Sabean is -- asserting that he's moved toward solving the problems at first, third and left field when it's painfully obvious that he's done nothing of the sort. Had he asserted something remotely believable -- "I believe Tim Lincecum could win 25 games and Matt Cain and Jonathan Sanchez could each win 20" -- then the reaction would have been much milder.

-- Since media members don't like Bonds and he refuses to give the deference many media types feel they deserve, they paint him in the worst possible light. Disrespect an athlete and he won’t talk to you. Disrespect a reporter and he’ll write bad things about you. In both cases it is presented to the public as proof of the "spoiled, pampered athlete" by a party who isn't impartial in reporting what happened and has an ego of his own.-- It’s okay to be a self-centered jerk as long as nobody expects you to be a hero. The public wants its athletic gods to publicly embrace their mortality and be the common man. Barry refused to come down from Mount Olympus and he wasn’t shy about saying that he liked it there, away from the rabble. -- Bonds was at the top and refused to come down for any reason. He stayed up there and hit home run 756. However, now that he is out of baseball and no longer on a pedestal, the media and the public that allows them to color their opinion of Bonds wish to avoid allowing him another pedestal.Why?As long as Barry Lamar Bonds is out of baseball, we are in the position of power. Right now, the public and press are enjoying the opportunity to look down on Bonds, making him the supplicant for the game’s attention rather than the other way around. Instead of his telling us we aren't worthy of his time, we get to inform him that he's not worthy of our game. What makes it so delicious to many is they get to tell him that his personality, not his ability, is the reason teams do not wish to employ him—that "Barry being Barry" now means "Barry being unemployed."-- Yeah, Barry Bonds is a jerk, However I don’t trust the media to tell me that he is this walking cancerous tumor that will slowly destroy a team’s will to win. It’s only what the media wish for us to believe and in some small measure it’s what we wish to believe since we’ve been told that Bonds is the “Worst. Teammate. Ever.” for so long that we accept it unconditionally without ever meditating on how (and where) we drew this conclusion.The teams wish to believe it, too, since it makes it easier to enforce Bud Selig’s probable unofficial edict to blacklist Bonds. It allows the clubs to believe that the reasons they don’t want Bonds are such that they’re still doing everything in their power to win.This much is certain: We may think we’re right in our opinions about Bonds, but Bonds has ample reason to think his opinion of us was bang on, too.

When the Giants score 6 runs....

They usually lose. The Chron's Henry Schulman does a nice job of explaining the anatomy of Sunday's meltdown --

The eight Giants runs would have been enough to win any of the previous 13 games they had lost. But when a team is flailing as badly as the Giants are - with five straight losses and 12 in their last 15 games - the ledger of runs scored and runs allowed rarely match properly. The Giants have scored six runs eight times this season and lost five of those games.

Attendance was only 34,000 -- not surprising given that the team is now on a 5-game losing streak and playing like a team that's going to lose 100 games. Projected record -- 63-99.

It helps me to write that the Dodgers also got hammered today by the Angels. But back to what happened at Mays Field: I'm not a big fan of these kind of games, where teams seem to score at will, unless the Giants come out on the winning end. Otherwise, they're frustrating as all get out in that they take forever and they always make me think, "Why can't you save the offense for a 2-1 game, when you really need it?"

The only other real compensation I remember was booing Steve Garvey; cheering like a madman (I was a lot younger) as the Giants cut the 16-10 lead in half in the bottom of the 8th; and watching Andy McGaffigan and Gary Lavelle close the Padres out in the last 3 innings.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Zito loses again and doesn't suck again

Ever since Brian Sabean proclaimed the Giants were going to contend, they've lost every game. Way to fire up the team, Brainy Brian -- I'm sure William Neukom's noted that this team is not looking once again like it may make it to 100 losses despite Barry Zito's recent flirtation with adequacy. Projected record -- 64-98

-- Barry Zito staggered into dubious territory Saturday night. He labored through five innings, absorbed another loss and became the first Giants starter to drop his first eight decisions in a season since Jesse Burkett in 1890, a mere 118 years ago.

-- Giants hitters were strikingly anemic with runners in scoring position - 1-for-7 on the heels of an 0-for-12 showing Friday night. The Giants have scored only one run in their last 23 innings, and their season total of 151 runs ranks next-to-last in the majors, ahead of only San Diego (148).

--Buehrle did not overpower the Giants, but he threw strikes more reliably than Zito did. The Giants put the ball in play against Buehrle - he collected only one strikeout in his 6 2/3 innings - but he often had hitters off-balance, tapping soft, harmless grounders.

-- Zito's outing probably looked painfully familiar to Giants fans, except he somehow departed with his team trailing only 2-0. That counted as astonishing, given how the White Sox clogged the bases with runners - 14 in all during Zito's five innings (eight hits and six walks). Many of the hits were soft and well-placed, but Zito again served as his own worst enemy, repeatedly losing contact with the strike zone. -- Eugenio Velez, pinch hitting for Zito in the fifth, achieved something no Giants hitter had in the team's 18 previous innings: He knocked home a run. It was an innocuous RBI groundout, scoring Jose Castillo, but it represented San Francisco's first run since the fourth inning of Thursday's loss to Houston.

These aren't the Yankees, Joe

For Giants fans -- what with a terrible team and Barry Bonds blackballed by owners' collusion -- the only real compensation during much of the season is watching the Dodgers stumble around. Fortunately, because the Dodger roster is constructed by Brian Sabean's protege Ned Colletti, the Dodgers are also blowing lots of games.

NOTE TO WILLIAM NEUKOM -- I would bet that if someone messed up at Microsoft, even if they were in senior management, they'd be fired. It's time to pull the trigger on the guy who brought you this mess. You might note that attendance was 35,000 tonight -- many of them disguised as empty seats.

More time with the family - HA!

It never fails. Any time anyone leaves a job and wants to convey the impression that they are leaving of their own accord, they inevitably say that they want to spend more time with the family. That's a statement always taken at face value -- even though it's at odds with most people's experience.

I realize that I should be grateful to Magowan for keeping baseball in San Francisco and building the park but frankly, I'm a little annoyed by all this. I'm really bothered over Magowan's lack of gratitude to the one guy who he should be thanking. I'm talking about his class-free willingness to keep throwing Barry Bonds under the bus -- when it's Bonds who was the major reason why Magowan was as successful as he was:

When asked if he would have done anything differently with Bonds, Magowan said, "Yeah, probably sure."

My snarky comment -- No, Gwen, he's simply stating the obvious, while still wanting to have it both ways and say he would have done things differently with Bonds. "Defending" Bonds would amount to either giving him a job or at the least, not continuning to give the weasel answer that "Oh, we wish that we could get into our time machine and change things."

Desperate times in the bullpen

Giants fans should not be surprised that the pen has performed abysmally this week, given the front office's track record. Keep in mind that their idea of a good relief pitcher was this -- signing Fatmando Blownitez toa $21 million 3-year deal.

-- I’m assuming the solution at first Sabean is referencing is John Bowker, a hitter who has looked so good some times and so terrible other times, it makes me think we’re just seeing the latest in the Lance Neikro, Todd Linden, Damon Minor mold of the Giants’ farm system.-- The solution at third? I’m still lost as to what that is. Jose Castillo has been more painful to watch than Pedro Feliz, and that’s saying something. Rich Aurilia? His .245/.321/.367 line is well below replacement level for a 3B.-- Big Money Molina? Yeah, he’s clutch, but a .304 OBP is NOT what you want from your #4 hitter. Manny Burriss is a factor? A speed guy who gets on base at a .302 clip is not a factor. I like the kid’s potential, but he’s in over his head. He’s just Brian Bocock with more speed.-- As for the pitching, other than Tim Lincecum, it’s been pretty disappointing. Matt Cain has been solid, but he has to get that ERA below 4. Jonathan Sanchez has been Jonathan Sanchez. Lowry & Correia, shelved until further notice. Zito…. well, the less said the better. The relief corps looked solid at the beginning, but shitty management has flushed that down the tubes. -- If Brian Sabean has represented utter lunacy, Bruce Bochy has represented complete ignorance. We’ve been over his abuse of Matt Cain & Tim Lincecum in terms of pitch counts. So, on top of that, he makes a move that rotoworld called, “disgusting.” After Merkin Valdez (who is fresh of Tommy John surgery) felt a little discomfort in his elbow, what did Bochy do? He sent him to the hill the next day, only for Merkin to get blown up. Only after that, do they decide to DL him and treat us all to Alex Hinshaw (did Erik Threets die or something?).-- On top of that, he insists on putting our best hitter in the #5 slot, behind the anemic Randy Winn (.283/.320/.370) & the human continental drift. He never gives Dan Ortmeier, who is actually hitting a respectable .292/.393/.417, ANY playing time. He is frequently out-managed by the opposition, depleting his bench and forced to make ridiculous substitutions late in the game. In short, this is a team that was designed by a lunatic and is being run by an imbecile.

-- Tyler Walker took the blame rather than pulling a Blownitez: "Basically, you can blame me for losing this game. No way Vinnie should pitch in that game. There were six outs to go with a four-run lead. I know the Astros are a good hitting team, but that's our job. It's something you have to come back from."

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

A monument to Brian Sabean's incompetence

That's my first reaction to tonight's 6-3 loss to Houston. I had listened to some of the game and heard Dave Flemming mention that the Giants after 6 were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Then Taschner and Sadler combine to give up the 4th run to Houston in the 7th amid bad mistakes by both -- Taschner walked the worthless Cruz Jr. (5-for-40) to start the inning and then Sadler grooved a 1-2 pitch to Tejada with two out when Bengie had called for a shoulder high pitch that Mig would chase. I got home, kissed my wife and took the dog for walk, did some laundry and then looked at this box score.

THE GIANTS LEFT 10 MEN ON BASE. Anyhow, it seems fitting that with Magowan retiring, the team obviously years away from contending and fans starting to stay away, the ineffectiveness of this offense -- and the idiot who constructed this team -- could not shown more clearly.

The return of Johnnie LeMaster

"That stunt cost me a $500 fine, but it was worth every penny. It won over some of the media and the fans really got a kick out of it," said LeMaster who was honored by the Giants last weekend as part of the club's season long 50th San Francisco Anniversary celebration.It was the Paintsville, Kentucky resident's first visit to San Francisco's downtown ballpark."I'm jealous of the new players. Everything is so plush and inviting, I'd love to take some ground balls or step up to the plate here," said LeMaster, 53, and a grandfather of six. "I'm glad for the players that they have something like this to come to and I'm really happy for the fans."He was a decent fielder but couldn't hit worth a damn -- .222/.277/.289 for his career. And I think that Giants fans booed him a lot because they couldn't express their disgust in any other way that -- year after year after year after year -- LeMaster was the best that the team could find. I don't recall his successor Jose Uribe ever getting booed at the Stick.

For the sake of discussion, let's say that the Giants decided to play Brian Bocock at short for the next eight years. I'd bet that by 2014 or so, the booing would be pretty intense.

Why am I going on about this? Because, driving home from a difficult day at work, I was thoroughly enjoying the first half of the Giants game. Barry Zito got through 5 scoreless innings; Bowker homered for the first time since April 20; and Omar and Fred Lewis doubled home runs. I was thinking "This is how it used to be for all those years; if the Giants played at home, we fans knew they had a pretty good shot of winning."

Awesome story for the local boy. The former backup to Justin Knoedler in Single-A San Jose has looked the part in the majors coming off an improbable upset in an open battle for the backup job in spring training. On the other hand, Jose Castillo celebrated the return of Pedro Feliz by doing his best impression, hitting into 3 double plays (two on the first pitch and two with the bases loaded) before lining a triple in a completely no-pressure situation leading off the eighth. (Unsurprisingly, he was subsequently stranded by Vizquel, Aurilia and Lewis). His struggles epitomize the Giants biggest downfall so far this season: not cashing in on baserunners. Team batting with RISP? .237.Dirty continues to struggle as he allows three in a very wild 4.1 IPs. Also troubling: Sanchez's inability to control his emotions - a good example being his failure to cover first on a helluva diving play by John Bowker.

It Might Be Dangerous, You Go First

In a move that turned out well only for Giants fans and Dodger haters, idiot Dodger owner Frank McCourt decided to kick DePodesta to the curb -- after DePo had gotten the team into the playoffs for the first time in 7 years in 2004. In a midseason move, he traded the badly overhyped Paul Lo Duca, Juan Encarnacion and Guillermo Mota to the Marlins for Brad Penny, Hee Seop Choi and prospect Bill Murphy, then sent Murphy to the Diamondbacks for Steve Finley, who had one last burst of competence. Penney became a solid starter and none of the guys traded away ever amounted to much.

The Los Angeles media -- led by certified dingbat Bill Plaschke of the LA Times -- hated the LoDuca trade and began calling for DePo's scalp with the Dodgers sucking in 2005 even though the team he inherited and the manager (Jim Tracy) were mostly useless. He acquired J.D. Drew, Derek Lowe, Jeff Kent, which helped the Dodgers re-load and make the playoffs again in 2006 but by then he'd been fired, so Ned Colletti got the undeserved credit. Colletti's recent moves (Pierre, Andruw Jones, Schmidt) have been bad but the farm system's so strong that it usually covers those mistakes.

In the meantime, it would be a smart move for the Giants to dump Sabean and hire DePo, so it's probably never going to happen.

-- In 27 at-bats with runners in scoring position, he has made 26 outs.-- "I don't see anything that would make him better than a fourth outfielder," an American League evaluator said.His bat speed has slowed, the evaluators said, a trend that generally does not reverse itself unless an injury explains the decline. -- In 2005-06, Jones ranked fifth in the National League in slugging percentage, at .553. In 2007-08, he ranks 80th, at .389. He strikes out as never before, and he struggles even when he makes contact. In 2005-06, when Jones put a fastball in play, he hit .363, according to STATS LLC. In 2007-08, that average is .305.-- "If I were the opposing team, I'd throw him nothing but fastballs until he proves he can hit them," an NL evaluator said.That evaluator said he clocked Jones -- while beating out an infield hit -- at 4.7 seconds to first base."That's what a catcher runs," he said.-- And, although the Dodgers trumpet defense, the evaluators independently made the same observation about Jones: He used to play notoriously shallow, daring anyone to hit balls over his head, knowing he could race back and catch them. Now he plays deep, so balls drop in front of him.Two statistical measures -- zone rating and range factor -- suggest Jones ranks as an average center fielder. -- Jones weighed 210 pounds during his glory years with the Braves. He weighed 248 this spring, so perhaps the decline in speed and range can be reversed.

One thing's certain -- the team's revenues are going down. People are not going to pay good money to see a crappy team despite the occasional win here and there, not after eight years of the Barry Bonds Show. Here you have the best player on the team (Lincecum) going up against one of the best teams in MLB (the Phils) on a Saturday afternoon -- and only 34,000 tickets get sold.

The always-insightful Only Baseball Matters already has a fascinating discussionabout the Magowan Era with a few silly dingbats asserting that Magowan shouldn't be given credit for all the good things that happened (keeping the Giants in SF, signing Bonds, the new park, the World Series). Most posters are smart enough to see a bigger picture. Here's what one poster named DonK said. The boldface is mine --

The Magowan Era should be divided into two parts.He and his group get a standing ovation for their work through 2002. They saved the franchise for San Francisco (the Tampa Bay Giants just doesn’t sound right). He/they signed Bonds (the best free-agent signing in MLB history). They brought in Dusty Baker, who did a superb job. They brought in Brian Sabean, who turned the franchise around in a year and gave San Francisco its longest sustained period of success since the Giants moved west. Last, and certainly not least, he was the driving force in the construction of Pac Bell, arguably the best of the new parks. The dividing line is the 2002 World Series. After the Giants kicked away San Francisco’s first championship, things started to fall apart. He ran Dusty out of town, brought in an out-of-touch replacement, would not spend to give the greatest offensive player in postwar MLB history enough support, purposely dealt away high picks for old role players who had limited use and no upside (Michael Tucker) but would not make bids for premium talent (Vlad Guerrero). He presided over the collapse of the scouting department. He milked Barry for all he was worth, turned a blind eye to BB-related problems, then threw Bonds over the side and basically stripped the franchise of any remembrance of him.For the second part of the Magowan Era, he’s being saluted now by flocks of empty seats, which speak louder than anything I could say.

Kevin Gibbs at Giants Cove has already said "Sayanora" to Magowan. I can't argue with his point -- Despite his many successes, Magowen has always represented a bastion of conservative thought. It was under his guidance that the Giants squandered a golden opportunity with Bonds and, far more damningly, fell behind the learning curve of modern roster construction.

Searching for scraps of positive news

After getting swept by the Pirates, the Giants now actually have to play a good team -- the Phillies -- as the 2008 season continues to devolve. Projected record is 65-97. But we're always on the lookout at Giants Win for positive news, so here goes --

-- A poster at McCovey Chronicles says:"Tell me why I shouldn't become an A's fan." Some of the more excellent responses:-- Because there are no four words uglier than: Now batting, designated hitter-- Because you should never cheat on your first love, no matter how badly (s)he screws you-- Two words: white shoes-- FACT: People who commit treason ended up in the ninth circle of hell… or was that LA? I can’t tell the difference.-- I feel you should pick one team and stick with them. It makes it that much more enjoyable when they win again (even if that time is 50 years from now). Sure, the Giants are a bad team, but they’re our bad team, damnit! Just remember, whichever side you choose, Giants or A’s, stay on one side. Don’t be that guy with the godawful half-and-half cap.-- Lincecum

Happy birthday, Willie Mays

Monday, May 05, 2008

Fun with All-Star voting

My friend Dan had a great way to take the edge off watching the Dodgers hammer the Mets at Chavez Latrine tonight by filling out an All-Star ballot with the least deserving players or the occasional pain in the neck guy like a certain White Sox catcher.

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Start stuffing those All Star ballots

I love how the Reds fans stuffed the ballot box in 1957, which led to the vote being taken away from the fans for the next decade. Here was the starting lineup, with Mays and Aaron named by the commissioner instead of Gus Bell and Wally Post. Stan Musial was the only non-Red voted into the lineup.

The Cincinnati Enquirer had printed up pre-marked ballots and distributed them with the Sunday newspaper to make it easy for Reds fans to vote often. There were even stories of bars in Cincinnati not serving alcohol to customers until they filled out a ballot.

-- So, get that bat. It comes with a lot of baggage, but it also comes with a lot of benefits. The shock value alone is worth the deal. The man still can put balls in the seats and no less importantly put butts in the seats. As opposed to you putting a tarp over them. The A's have to stop being a secret and start becoming an attraction. -- You know the word "coup"? That's what bringing in Barry Bonds would be. How about Bonds and Frank Thomas 3-4 in the batting order? Defense might be a worry, but you and Bob Geren would figure out something. The way you guys mishandled chances the last few days, Frank or Barry might be an improvement. -- Your announced attendance for the series opener against the Rangers on Friday night was a bit above 15,000, but that was tickets sold. It was lonely at McAfee Coliseum, reminiscent of the Charlie Finley days when Sal Bando nicknamed the place the "Mausoleum." You might understand a bad turnout for a bad club, but the A's were coming home in first place. To be blunt, nobody cares. It's time to be aggressive, to make people care. -- For too long the A's have been the other team, No. 2 to that club across the Bay. The Giants might not have much on the field, especially since they gave Bonds the back of the hand, but they have the ballpark, the 10-year jump in history, and the connection to that city with the cable cars and panhandlers. It's not your fault. Just the way things are. -- This is a perfect year. The Giants are down. Now's the time to put your foot on their throat by putting Bonds on the roster. Those legal problems? The federal government is having more difficulty building a perjury case against Barry than it is in keeping gasoline affordable. If Barry ever comes to trial, and that's doubtful, it won't be for at least a year. -- Bonds is going to end up someplace this season. Could any place be more perfect than Oakland? Barry knows the territory. The A's fans know Barry. True, they haven't liked him, but loyalty in sports is little more than the letters on the front of a uniform. Let Barry pop a couple against the Yankees or Angels, and you'll be amazed by his popularity.

But given the level of incompetence in the Giants front office, I can't help but wonder about the contradictary advice given by physicians in this case. Here you have a guy who's now saying, "It's time to see the best" to get further advice. So why wasn't Lowry told to see "the best" before now?

Armando Benitez plans to throw an extended spring training game Saturday in Dunedin, Fla. Benitez, with 289 saves in 18 seasons, signed a minor league contract with Toronto on March 11 and strained a leg muscle in a minor league game April 12. Projected Giants record -- 70-92

-- How much money would the Giants have to pay of Zito's remaining $112.5 million or so to get somebody -- anybody -- interested? "The Giants would have to eat 80 percent -- I'm talking $80-90 million," the official replied. "But they'd never do that. If that's what they'd have to eat, they might as well just let the guy keep being horse[feathers]." -- So can Zito ever get straightened out? We surveyed a half-dozen scouts and executives, and we found only one who thought he could. And that was a scout who said his only hope was to get reunited with Rick Peterson, "the only [pitching coach] Barry Zito ever had success with."But another scout offered this sobering view: "First off, I wonder if he's tipping pitches. Guys sit there and take such close pitches, you wonder. But here's his big problem. He's got so much movement on his curveball and so much movement on his changeup, it's difficult to get those pitches called for strikes. He needs to get ahead in the count with his fastball to be able to utilize those pitches. But when he tries to throw his fastball, it's too hittable." -- We also asked high-ranking officials of two clubs what they would do if they had a big-buck disaster like Zito on their team. The first replied: "I'd cry." The second had a more innovative proposal. "Here's what they should do," he said. "They should go to Zito and say, 'Look, it's clear this is not going to work. Let's put together an NBA-type deferral package. We'll take the whole contract, defer it over 30 years with no interest and then we'll release you, to let you start fresh somewhere else.'....You're better off paying him $3.7 million a year to not pitch than having him go out and do what he's doing. … In the NBA, this happens a lot. The union would never let him do that in our sport. But you know what? From the player's standpoint, he'd be better off."